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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik

MY ENEMY'S CHERRY TREE

Wang Ting-Kuo

*Winner of Taipei Book Fair Award
*Winner of China Times Open Book Award
*Asia Weekly Top Ten Chinese Novel of the Year
*Winner of Eslite Bookseller Award for Book of the Year
*Official “Books From Taiwan” Selection
Mr. Luo, a middle-aged philanthropist, walks into a newly opened café in a small town and orders a coffee. But after seeing the owner, he flees the scene as if in shock and falls ill soon after. What could possibly surprise such a benevolent man – well-known all over the country for his kindness and charity work – that he even attempts to commit suicide? There's apparently some kind of feud between the two men, but no one knows what really happened. Except that the owner's wife has gone missing.

Luo's daughter arrives at the café, hoping to find the truth. Through a series of interviews, the owner/narrator tells a story of ambition, love and revenge. Growing up in poverty, his one goal in life is to find a steady job and start his own family. The wish is granted when he meets Autumn, a young girl working at a French restaurant. The narrator then starts working in the real estate business and shows a real knack for it. As his career takes flight with Taiwan's property boom in the 90's, he and Autumn grows further apart, until one day she attends Mr. Luo's photography lessons

A modern-day Gatsby story, written in stunningly precise prose that brings to mind the best of Alice Munro, MY ENEMY'S CHERRY TREE explores the deep currents that run through man's experience in today's world. Wang Ting-Kuo's first novel won every major literary award in Taiwan, including his third Open Book Award in three years, setting an unprecedented record. He lives in Taichung and runs his own property and construction business.

MY ENEMY'S CHERRY TREE is Wang Ting-Kuo's first novel. Published in 2015, it was the biggest literary event of the year in Taiwan, along with Wu Ming-Yi's THE STOLEN BICYCLE. It won the Open Book Award, the Taipei Book Fair Award, and was chosen as one of the Ten Chinese Novels of the Year.

Wang's story is particularly remarkable. Born in 1955, he started writing when he was young and quickly became the literary superstar in the 80s. Then he fell in love with the daughter of a rich man, who told him to get a "real" job if he wants to marry her. So Wang stopped writing and got into the real estate business. For 25 years he didn't write a single word but he became a construction tycoon.
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Published 2015-09-01 by Ink

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Portobello: Portobello has an exceptional record with works in translation. You know, of course, about the success of Han Kang – who we were the first to publish in English, and whose American deals our rights director secured. We have also had tremendous success in recent years with the German author Jenny Erpenbeck, winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015; the Swiss author Peter Stamm, shortlisted for the International Man Booker Prize 2013; the Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2014 and the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2013; and with the works of Walter Kempowski, Alejandro Zambra and Yoko Tawada, all of whom have gained international recognition and critical acclaim.